Veins, 2024

Veins, 2024, Metal, paint, 283 × 158 × 82 cm, Dimensions variable

The work is part of an ongoing series by Alvaro Urbano initiated in 2018 for his exhibition “Welcome to the Jungle” at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.

Urbano takes the familiar presence of common houseplants, all which exist or once existed in his home, and renders them as steel sculptures that appear alive, yet are cold and hard to the touch. These plants are bestowed tenderness through personification, becoming as such monuments of ephemerality. These houseplants emit a certain humor in their playful material deception as well as a pervading sense of melancholy in their perpetual states of wilting. Their unassuming presence in an environment, which could easily be missed, further underscores Urbano’s interest in abandoned and neglected entities as well as the collective anima of a physical space, often across time.